Well, I only have one 0a3 amp, the ZP3. I suppose I could plug into the mains for an a-b comparison. Thats the thing, you may have the ZP3, Torii mk 3/4, but the CSP doesn`t have the 0a3 to filter mains. So a power plant is always going to be on your wish list if you dont have one.PS regen, ok, but lets not get too carried away. If by divine intervention you swopped one out and used my unit you wouldn`t hear anything but clean music. And there isn`t much difference in price, and the company that made mine make power plants much more expensive.Thats the first time Ive seen that quote from Steve. I can have a slight chuckle. Gotta be a tongue in cheek little poke to pull the legs of the PS users. Now.....plug the ZP3 into the mains......maybe another day.

marky said,Gotta be a tongue in cheek little poke to pull the legs of the PS users.

OK, I'm officially a dork (like everybody didn't know that already ) haha ... I didn't actually think he meant to stick a PS Audio P10 in the ground and bury it, but was thinking more along the lines of using some type of device for earth grounding.

Quote:

marky said,... the company that made mine make power plants much more expensive.

It`s an Iso-teK power sub. Now discontinued but they pop up on bay at good prices. New they were around £1k. They do cater for the US and having a quick look found one of their giant models retailing at $13k. I imagine they have most models on sale in the US. The power sub is large, very heavy and as far as I know excellent, and with 6 outlets I can get my 4 Decware amps + tt and cassette all sorted. The PS does intrigue, and the debate/info has gone up a notch on the `regeneration` thread. So maybe we can give Steve some credit for that quote which is bringing more light to the regen topic. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Isotek-Substation-Audiophile-Flag-Ship-High-End-Mains-...

I'm sure my jumping up and down about the Mystery amp doesn't help Lon's position. †;D

At least I'm not silly enough to go in a head-to-head debate with Lon about Decware gear (even though I think he's completely wrong - LOL). I appreciate that we all like different things, and I trust what I heard with my own ears. I'm a po'boy selling off other hobbies to scramble to afford the Mystery Amp, it's that good to me - and I'm a skeptic at heart; *everything* has to prove it's worth to me before I sign off on it. But Lon has a specific sonic aesthetic in mind, and I think he's got it, and I'm reaching for a bit more clinical sound, with super detail and a touch of harmonics - and that's what I heard with the Mystery amp...so I may have found my "sonic aesthetic" as well (I like that term!)

So the Power Plant will have to prove itself to me against the few other toys I have to put it up against. Hell, I'm so dedicated to making this work, I've seriously considered running the same MILspec wire that Steve uses for the Zen Styx as the power wire for the dedicated 20 amp circuit!

On a similar note, I just stumbled into an IS1000HS (Hospital Grade) Trip Lite Isolation Transformer for under $200! So I snapped it up to give it a spin. If I don't like it, it should be easy to flip - but if I like it, it will give me that couple percent improvement in my current system and future system till I can swing a Power Plant.

As for Steve's hype...I †love hearing it - it cracks me up! I trust the man, and I've told him that many times before, but I being the skeptic I am I take everything he says with a grain of salt - and the gear still has to prove itself to me. The problem is, he's more often right on the money than not. It doesn't help that he said at the last meet that he and I "hear things a lot a like".

So while he suggests the Mystery amp puts the need for a Power Plant out to pasture ( for better grounding! LOL) - I'd have to hear that to believe it. It would be awesome if all I needed was the Isolation transformer for surge protection...would certainly save me a lot of money, but I have my doubts.

I hate to admit, his comment did make me wonder if improving my grounding scheme at the house would improve my sound any. Hey, if I'm nutty enough to wire an outlet with 10 AWG Zen Styx, why not improve the grounding scheme? ;D

Hey, I'm glad you're excited about the amp and if his writing helped that's fine and dandy.

Have to say though I've gotten messages and feedback from people who have looked into Decware because of my use and talk of it who are turned off by the web pages and the way Steve presents his products. They buy Marantz or Jolida or Manley instead. Wasting their money in my opinion, but presentation and first impressions are important.

And we are looking for different types of sound reproduction and it appears to me that the Mystery Amp is more the detailed sound type that isn't as helpful to the recordings that I listen to as the more flexible Torii Mk III. I don't like a very detailed, forward sound, I have the kind of sound I like. And I don't need the power and if I ever am able to afford a space where I would need it, I'll have enough money then to buy the Mystery Amp Mk XXV.

The truth of the matter is that I'm set with my systems now and I'll play around with cabling and isolation etc. for fine-tuning but I don't need to read what comes off to me as hype about new amps. I really don't even need to appear here and post every day over and over. Part of me wants to stop, and I may taper off.

The waiting for these Mystery Amps is going to be hard! I hope they come in a month or so and I'm looking forward to reading the impressions I know you two won't be able to keep to yourselves when they arrive.

Have to say though I've gotten messages and feedback from people who have looked into Decware because of my use and talk of it who are turned off by the web pages and the way Steve presents his products. They buy Marantz or Jolida or Manley instead. Wasting their money in my opinion, but presentation and first impressions are important.

Now that you point it out, I see your point. Steve is Steve. But notice he doesn't advertise or go to many shows, and very rarely sends anything out for reviews. So it's not like opening up a Magazine and seeing him say "go bury your Power Plants, they are worthless now" LOL

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And we are looking for different types of sound reproduction and it appears to me that the Mystery Amp is more the detailed sound type that isn't as helpful to the recordings that I listen to as the more flexible Torii Mk III. I don't like a very detailed, forward sound, I have the kind of sound I like. And I don't need the power and if I ever am able to afford a space where I would need it, I'll have enough money then to buy the Mystery Amp Mk XXV. Smiley

You know I'm just yanking your chain when I say your wrong, right? I just love when your posts sound so huffy. †;D †Truth is I"m rather jealous of your two setups!

I think that Steve's personal excitement with what he does, feels, and hears as he develops an amp, is what makes him the great designer that he is. It is the excitement of exploration leading to discovery...leading to new exploration and then further discovery. In an ongoing cycle, this creative process leads us to places we could not have gotten to otherwise. And when it works, it is really exciting...not like Steve created the amp, but like the amp was created in this process that was driven by his personal need for beauty.

Without a personal quest for beauty, and creative exploration, his amps would likely be notably less captivating...

I think exceptional stuff is pretty much always a result of natural creative process. We start at a place of knowledge and perception and create a conceptual image of where we are trying to go (in this case, the amp). Then we start trying to bring it to reality.

As indicated in this thread, the developing amp itself, and how Steve perceived it, became his inspiration and teachers. At each new step along the way, new starting places stimulated new explorations. Maybe the desired quality at the time led to different resistors, or caps, or wires, or whatever...

Then, with diligence and determination, questing all along for indescribable listening qualities....there is this new thing that is different and better than ever imagined. It could not be accurately imagined until all the little experiments, one step leading to another, finally ends with satisfaction. It is done, and in this case, an inspiring thing to the creator.

I think this is natural creativity in action. It makes the process more important than the maker, and can lead to unexpected places that are greater than the sum of the parts.

My guess is that this amp could only have come from this sort of personally exciting process, and this is most of what we are hearing in Steve's descriptions during his own discovery of the Mystery Amp.

I don't necessarily agree with all this, I agree about the creativity and the results but I think the language doesn't have to be the way that it is, I find it off-putting and I'm not alone. Many have told me it seems unprofessional, which is not really true in my opinion, but how it comes off to some potential customers. The excitement is great but it can be expressed without seeming like hype.

I love his work and his character and nature but it's not fun reading for me. Glad I am in the minority.

I think one thing that makes Steve and Zygi's stuff so good, is the "What If I....". I mean, look at the Mystery amp..."What if I took these big 1 liter sized 2000mfd caps, and build the amp around that...and add in my new love for KT66 and...woah! Look at this cool stuff that happened!"

Unprofessional? I think it's exactly the right amount of professional that it needs to be. †

Yes, I hear the nay-sayers...and a lot of them have that macho "audiophile" disease that allows them to go on and on about this "snake oil" or that "hype" without ever having heard whatever it is.

I like Steve's excitement about what he does, and I like us Decware lovers excitement about what he does...So to me, if this sounds clannish or bullshit to some of those looking in on this forum, or on Steve's write-ups, I say so be it. They are the ones missing out by not giving the stuff a listen...May not be exactly to taste, but we all know it can be very, very, very good...a lot like Steve describes it actually.